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Joshua asked: “I’ve got a laptop that’s a little older – it’s got Windows 7 on it but it works good. Only problem with it, is it seems to make a several quick beeps when I turn it on. I don’t know why. Is this a bad thing? Do I need to back it up? What’s going on with it?”
Joshua, definitely back up.
We don’t know what’s going on with it, different brands use different beep codes and even if we knew the brand we’d need to know the pattern to tell you more, however, beeps on startup means that the computer is failing a check when it powers on.
What the check is, we don’t know. It may be a RAM problem, a logic board problem, a processor problem, a video card problem, we just don’t know, but the computer thinks something is wrong.
It may be a relatively minor problem, for example, if it’s an issue with the RAM, you may be able to replace it for cheap and have no further problems.
Since we don’t know what it’s telling you, we’d strongly recommend you back up ASAP.
If you check manufacturer’s website for either “beep codes” or “POST codes” (Power-On Self-Test), you should be able to find out what error your particular computer is trying to share with you.